The present invention relates to a tape recorder capable of pressing a pinch roller against a capstan shaft with a slight pressing force under the state of a temporary stop on the way to recording or reproduction, that is, the state of a pause.
Some tape recorders are provided with a so-called pause function for temporarily stopping a tape from running during recording or reproduction.
As an example of such tape recorder, a motor drive circuit is cut off as a pinch roller is pressed against a capstan shaft and a tape running is temporarily stopped.
If a pinch roller is pressed against a capstan shaft with a large pressing force at the time of recording or reproduction during the state of a pause, the pressing force in such a case is considerably larger, so that the pinch roller becomes deformed by the pressing force against the capstan shaft when the pausing state is continued for a long time, and then thereafter, the tape running cannot be performed smoothly, and recording and reproduction become unstable in characteristic.
In order to eliminate such a disadvantage, a tape recorder has been proposed where tape running is temporarily stopped by cutting out a motor drive circuit and at the same time the pinch roller is separated from a capstan shaft.
If the pinch roller is separated from the capstan shaft under the state of a pause, a tape is displaced downward by its own weight caused by slackened tension of the tape. When the tape recorder is restarted under such state, the tape becomes unstable in characteristic for recording and reproduction on that portion because the tape is started from the displaced state.